Ready, Set, Nourish

Overview

The READY, SET, NOURISH Study is seeking participants who are pregnant with a single baby and are less than 37 weeks along. If you are at least 18 years old, have a BMI over 25 kg/m², and interested in breastfeeding, you may qualify for our study. In this study, moms are placed into one of three groups by chance, like flipping a coin. You will learn which group you're in after agreeing to join the study.  All groups will visit Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center to get standard care. This includes checking on mom during pregnancy, following baby’s growth, and providing lactation support.

• Group 1: The first group will receive lactation support and continue to maintain their regular diet while attending study visits.
• Group 2: The second group will receive lactation support, maintain their regular diet, attend the study visits and receive a “prenatal intervention” which consists education about Antenatal Breast
  Milk Expression (ABME).
• Group 3: The third group will receive lactation support, attend the study visits and receive a “postnatal intervention” which consists of following a healthy meal plan for 5.5 months and recording what is eaten using a food log.

What to Expect

During Pregnancy

This visit will last between 2-4 hours. We will ask questions about your medical history, depressions symptoms, quality of life, breastfeeding history, infant feeding intentions, and ask for stool samples. If you're part of the prenatal group intervention, we will ask you colostrum samples too. We'll also take some body measurements and provide education on breastfeeding, including a technique called hand expression. You might watch videos and practice this technique at home until delivery. We will provide you food-record forms and the stool-collection kit to bring back at the drop-off visit.

Drop-off visit: this visit will last 1-hour. It will occur after the first prenatal study visit and before the second visit (2-week visit). We will ask you to return your food records and stool samples that will be collected before the baby’s birth.

After your baby is born, we ask you and your baby to attend 11 visits from 2 weeks to 2 years of age:

• Visit Schedule: 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months.
• Activities: During these visits, we'll ask about medical history questions about you and your baby, your breastfeeding experience, depression symptoms questions,, perform measurements on you and your baby, and collect blood samples from you, and at the 6- month visit, from your baby as well. We will collect urine, stool, and human milk samples at each visit. We will also collect toenails samples from you at 3-month and 6- month visit. We will also evaluate your baby brain and bones at the 6-month visit. Additionally, we will request details of your dietary records and your baby's diet. Each visit may take 2-4 hours.

Study Compensation

• Receive one case of diapers after the prenatal visit, two cases of diapers at the first postpartum visit up to the 6-month visit, and three cases of diapers at each of the following visits: 9, 12, 18 and 24 months.
• Completion Bonus: A $100 bonus if you attend all visits and complete all assessments.
• Transportation Assistance: Transportation support is available if needed for your visits.

Contact Information

Call 501-364-3309  or email: acncstudies@archildrens.org.